Brephidium

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Brephidium
Brephidium exilis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Subfamily: Polyommatinae
Tribe: Polyommatini
Genus: Brephidium
Scudder, 1876

Brephidium is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae.[1] They are known commonly as pygmy blues. The species of this genus have a disjunct distribution. Two of the three species are found in the Americas while the third is found in Africa.

Species[edit]

The following three species are in the genus Brephidium:[2][1][3][4]

  • Brephidium exilis (Boisduval, 1852) – western pygmy blue (southern United States to South America)
  • Brephidium metophis (Wallengren, 1860) – South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe
  • Brephidium pseudofea (Morrison, 1873) – eastern pygmy blue (southeastern United States)

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Butterflies and Moths of North America". www.butterfliesandmoths.org. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  2. ^ Pittaway, A. R., T. B. Larsen, A. Legrain, J. Majer, Z. Weidenhoffer & M. Gillet. 2006. The establishment of an American butterfly in the Persian Gulf: Brephidium exilis (Boisduval, 1852) (Lycaenidae). Nota Lepidopterologica 29(1/2):3-14.
  3. ^ Pohl, Greg; Patterson, Bob; Pelham, Jonathan (2016). Annotated taxonomic checklist of the Lepidoptera of North America, North of Mexico (Report). doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.2186.3287.
  4. ^ Brephidium at Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera